


Million Miles a Minute Thought Processes

by Shane_for_Wax



Series: Holtzmann the ADHD Engineer [1]
Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: ADHD Holtzmann, F/F, Gen, Neurotypical Patty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 23:17:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7777543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shane_for_Wax/pseuds/Shane_for_Wax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I decided the moment I finished watching Ghostbusters that Holtzmann was ADHD because I saw a lot of my mannerisms in Holtz. Thus, here is some writing of said ADHD!Holtzmann. Patty, however, is neurotypical but quickly copes. Originally posted on tumblr as jacensolodjo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Million Miles a Minute Thought Processes

Schedules had never really worked for Holtzmann. No matter who wrote them, no matter how important the thing was on a Tuesday at 10am. She would completely forget about it because her attention was on other things-- like building a better trap-- or she never knew how much time she had to give herself to get to the location of the event in question and always ended up more than half an hour late and by then it wouldn’t matter if she actually arrived at all. 

This usually meant that doctors appointments were never scheduled unless someone else could remember them for her. Because doctors offices would bill you for missed appointments and no matter how important they were _she just could not get there on time._

It was a wonder she had ever been able to get a job at all, much less the three she had held down prior to meeting Abby and being recruited to help bring her dreams into reality. But back then she had had help from family to get her to interviews. None of the jobs had ever kept her focus though, and she still had a small scar on the back of her left hand from the Retail Job from Hell she had received because her mind had slowly drifted elsewhere while unpacking items to put on the shelves (and learned just how sharp box cutters actually _were_ ).

Becoming a Ghostbuster had been the best thing for Holtzmann, if truth be told. Not only because she enjoyed her three new friends, but because she was doing something she was passionate about, using knowledge that she had managed to cram into her always darting around skull. Building things, things she thought up, was her saving grace. And when you really, really enjoyed something you were learning and doing that caused a nice hyperfocus but sometimes gave her tunnel vision too.

She called it being in the zone, as it was the best description she could come up with in the past two decades or so that she had been having to explain her mannerisms and how she acted. But even then people underestimated just how ‘in the zone’ she could get.

Which was why when Patty came up with a plate of pizza and breadsticks, neither the smell nor the sight of it seemed to register in Holtzmann’s mind. In fact it took three times of Patty calling to her to yank her from the tunnel. She offered a little apologetic smile as she took the plate, chirped a ‘thanks, Pat’, and then set the plate back down before returning to her work. 

But Patty knew if she walked away that the food would remain untouched, completely forgotten as Holtzy’s mind forgot everything around her but her current project. So instead she placed a hand on Holtzmann’s shoulder and the other forced the engineer’s gaze from her project and over to the food.

“Eat,” she intoned gently, more an order than a request. Holtzmann’s eyes moved from the food up and over to Patty and then back to the unfinished project. The blowtorch in her hand turned off and she put it down on the table. 

“Okaaaay...” she said, trying not to sound whiny or ungrateful for the reminder to eat. Because she was grateful, it was just... hard to remember basic human needs like food when she had so many other things to do and she couldn’t multitask eating and working on projects because both actions generally required two hands. 

While eating, every once in a while she would sneak a glance over at Patty to see if she could go back to her work yet or not. But no, every time she looked there Patty was, drinking a soda and watching to make sure Holtz ate at least one of the pieces of pizza and at least half of a breadstick before going back to her work. It was weird because Abby had never really done that. Erin didn’t do it either. “What’re you, a nurse or something?” Holtzmann finally blurted before she could even begin to run the sentence through her clearly faulty mental filter. If she was embarrassed or felt bad about it, it didn’t show on her face.

“Yeah, baby, or something,” Patty replied, pushing a second soda closer to Holtz. “Drink.”

Holtzmann couldn’t tell if Patty was actually annoyed or not, but also didn’t want to risk asking and getting an answer. So instead she dutifully picked up the soda and took a long gulp from it before attacking the pizza anew. When Holtz had swallowed down the last breadstick on her plate and there was only half a piece of pizza left, Patty pressed a chaste kiss to Holtz’s cheek before walking away to her part of the firehouse, probably to do some more research of the surrounding couple of blocks where they worked to make sure they weren’t in close proximity to some ghost activity which could prove to be very embarrassing to their reputation. 

Erin and Abby had gone home, Patty had not. It was probably a good thing, as she soon found Holtz in the lab at two in the morning who looked dead on her feet but the idea of sleep hadn’t crossed her mind same as eating hadn’t. It was a wonder she hadn’t hurt herself yet in her fatigue. Instead she was mumbling something to herself as she was attaching a piece of piping to a folded sheet of what looked like titanium.

Patty walked around the table and stopped at Holtzmann’s side. She then reached out, grasped Holtzmann’s shoulder, and turned her around. Holtz only had time to blink blearily at her before she had Patty’s mouth against her own. It woke her up almost entirely, eyes widening in surprise. She blindly set her project of the minute down on the table so she could grasp Patty’s shoulders and lean up on her toes to return the kiss. 

The kiss ended far too soon for her liking but she was also very, very tired. She couldn’t remember when she had last slept. Maybe she had never slept. 

Patty’s fingers gently brushed a few stray strands of hair from Holtzmann’s face before taking her by the hand. 

“C’mon, home time.” When you didn’t work a normal nine to five job, there was no real schedule to worry about. But you couldn’t just sleep at your job either. 

The entire car ride to Holtzmann’s apartment the blonde couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Instead, she just babbled semi-incoherently about what she had been working on the whole day. Patty listened patiently, even though half of the things Holtzmann talked about went right over her head. But she was starting to understand the science behind everything and found herself understanding more than she would have prior to meeting the other Ghostbusters. 

And then they got to Holtzmann’s apartment and her tired brain decided that the porch was the perfect place to return the kiss she had received earlier that day as if it had just happened and not half a day had gone by. There wasn’t a mixing business with pleasure rule in effect, but Patty wasn’t entirely sure if her presence would be a hindrance to Holtzmann getting any sleep that night. For all she knew, Holtzmann would continue rambling about her work until dawn-- and beyond-- simply because she had company. 

But before she could even begin to articulate these worries to the shorter blonde, Holtz was dragging her inside the chaotic little apartment she called home. Almost on auto-pilot they both slipped out of shoes but didn’t bother shedding anything else besides the light jackets that protected them from the New York winter starting to settle. 

Once in bed, Patty opened her mouth to lay down some ground rules but instead Holtzmann mumbled a very tired ‘thanks Pat’ before falling right to sleep so that the next sound Patty heard was very light snoring. 

“What, no good night kiss?” she said to the sleeping form of her hyperactive girlfriend. She might as well have just been talking to herself as the only response she got was a grunt and then another snore. 

“You’re somethin’ else, Holtzy,” she said before settling down to sleep her own self. 

“Love you too,” Holtz said, voice thick from sleep, and mildly scaring the taller woman as she had not expected a response at all. 

“I love you too, go back to sleep,” Patty returned after lightly swatting the blonde’s shoulder. 

“Mhmmmm.” 

Sleep soon claimed Patty, and she hoped it had claimed Holtzmann too.


End file.
